An Egyptian court today sentenced a prominent Facebook user to three years in prison with hard labour after he asserted on television that many married women in the conservative country were unfaithful.

Female genital mutilation, the excision of the clitoris practised widely in African and many Muslim countries, is a means for men to maintain control of women and must be eradicated, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Monday.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has ordered the interior minister to fight sexual harassment following the arrest of seven men for attacking women near Cairo's Tahrir Square during his inauguration celebrations, his office said on Tuesday.

Days after sexual assaults on women celebrating his inauguration in the capital's Tahrir Square, Egypt's newly-elected President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi has directed to "strictly enforce an anti-harassment law", state media reported on Tuesday.

The Indian women's table tennis team got past Bulgaria 3-2 in their toughest test in the World Team Table Tennis Championships so far to directly enter the quarterfinals, while the men's team will take on Egypt in a Round of 16 match on Friday because of the loss they suffered against Italy.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was the ringmaster of "bunga bunga" sex parties at his luxurious villa near Milan, giving the go-ahead for young women to perform pole dances and stripteases, according to a court document.

Sexual harassment, high rates of female genital cutting and a surge in violence and Islamist feeling after the Arab Spring uprisings have made Egypt the worst country in the Arab world to be a woman, a poll of gender experts showed on Tuesday.

An Egyptian court today sentenced a prominent Facebook user to three years in prison with hard labour after he asserted on television that many married women in the conservative country were unfaithful.

Female genital mutilation, the excision of the clitoris practised widely in African and many Muslim countries, is a means for men to maintain control of women and must be eradicated, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Monday.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has ordered the interior minister to fight sexual harassment following the arrest of seven men for attacking women near Cairo's Tahrir Square during his inauguration celebrations, his office said on Tuesday.

Days after sexual assaults on women celebrating his inauguration in the capital's Tahrir Square, Egypt's newly-elected President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi has directed to "strictly enforce an anti-harassment law", state media reported on Tuesday.

The Indian women's table tennis team got past Bulgaria 3-2 in their toughest test in the World Team Table Tennis Championships so far to directly enter the quarterfinals, while the men's team will take on Egypt in a Round of 16 match on Friday because of the loss they suffered against Italy.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was the ringmaster of "bunga bunga" sex parties at his luxurious villa near Milan, giving the go-ahead for young women to perform pole dances and stripteases, according to a court document.

Sexual harassment, high rates of female genital cutting and a surge in violence and Islamist feeling after the Arab Spring uprisings have made Egypt the worst country in the Arab world to be a woman, a poll of gender experts showed on Tuesday.

Close to 100 women have fallen victim to "rampant" sexual attacks in Cairo's Tahrir Square during four days of protests against Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

The Obama administration is postponing an award for an Egyptian activist who rallied worldwide attention against forced "virginity tests" on female protesters because of anti-American and anti-Semitic comments discovered on her Twitter account.

With bright neon vests and hardhats gleaming at dusk, a dozen Egyptian volunteers fanned out through Cairo's crowded Tahrir Square. Their project: end a surge in sexual assaults on women that activists say has become the darkest stain on the country's opposition street movement.

Nevine Mustafa finally had enough after 10 hours of waiting to cast her "no" vote in Egypt's referendum on a highly disputed draft constitution. She and the other women in line were convinced the judge running the polling station was deliberately stalling to drive away voters opposed to the document.

Egypt's first veiled newsreader on state television has drawn support from many viewers for ending an unwritten rule under ousted Hosni Mubarak that kept covered women out of the top job, although some fretted it could herald social restrictions.

Wearing a cream-colored headscarf and a dark suit, Fatma Nabil read the 12 o'clock news bulletin on Sunday and became Egypt's first female news presenter ever to appear on state television while wearing a veil.

Abeer Shahin graduated from the prestigious American University in Cairo but struggled to find a job because of employers' aversion to her full Islamic face veil, or niqab. But now she has found a job she hopes will change how Egyptian society views niqab wearers once and for all: she is going to work as a TV anchor for a new channel being managed ...

Concerned over the continued violence and abuse of women demonstrators in Egypt, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri to register deep US unease about the situation, particularly the attacks on women.

Hosts US ended India's run in the women's World Junior team squash championship with a 2-1 victory in the semifinals here Friday to set up a title clash with defending champions Egypt, who defeated Hong Kong 2-0 for their fifth consecutive entry into the final.